Plasma Accelerator Good or Bad for Imperial Cutter ??

[Hatchepsut]

Because of maneuverability I usually find myself using a lot of turrets on my Cutter.

I have tried just gimballed and easily get spanked from behind. Unless I constantly fire wile in reverse of course. (gets boring)

With tons of turrets I find myself using just 1 fire button all the time and I miss the days of Fer-De-Lance agility and Pulse Laser madness ....
.... Coupled with the Mega Fun 2nd fire button which was my sexy Plasma Accelerator.

Today even the plasma got replaced with the Size 4 Multi-gun which is not as fun and is also attached to my 1st fire button along with the rest.
But the multi-gun goes such a fine job ... a BETTER job than just the plasma.

Not complaining ..... just wondering if I should lighten up the Cutter with D sensors and lower the armor and engineer it ..... and lightweight mount weapons? Getting rid of 160t of SCB too.

Will it ever become manouvreable enough to put up a fight against an FAS ? (agility wise) without relying on turrets ?

I currently only have a Clean Drive mod ... Dirty gets suggested a lot but it radically increases the heat ... and I do not have Palin as yet.

 

[Mechanist]

I would say you can us the PA but be prepared for a lot of FA, discipline and patience.

And I don't think it should be as maneuverable as FAS.

It's like comparing a whale with a tiger shark.

 

[Caramel Clown]

Cutter is plenty maneuverable to put up a fight against any ship. Question is...what kind of maneuverability you expect. Will it be maneuverable enough to effectively utilize fixed weapons? Not a chance. It's not just about turn rate really. Hardpoints are pretty far apart, because ship is so large.
Also, never ever compare a barge with a racing boat. Because that's what Cutter and FAS are in comparison to each other.

 

[Hatchepsut]

It's not a Cargo Ship though .... with the right changes would I be able to place an FAS in my front cross-hairs often enough for it to be worth it ?

 

[Gunnet]

Get comfortable with boost turning and using a lot of FAO and you're set.

My Cutter is fitted with almost no regard for weight and runs all fixed beams, rails and cannons (used PAs instead of cannons for a while, but went back to the cannons for power/heat efficiency and module sniping). It's plenty effective and a hundred times more fun than using the set of gimballed multis I have in storage.

I would definitely recommend unlocking Palin and rolling up some G5 DDs though.

 

[CptXabaras]

Running 3 of them under the nose with great results. G5 efficient with Phasing

 

[Starbreaker]

Advanced Plasma on the 2 large hardpoints on top, doesn't overburden the distributor as much during a fight if you run a lot of lasers elsewhere.

 

[Hooplah]

With G3 DD on the Cutter I have better maneuverability but still have problems with the 4A PA so went to M-Cs for now. I do much better with 2 rail guns with long range engineering on a Python. Still for me the rails work fine for attack but poor on defense when the NPCs (Vulture, FAS, Gunship) come after me first. Appears that a G5 DD is needed on the Cutter to improve getting the PA on target. Then we'll know.

 

[Iori]

Get comfortable with boost turning and using a lot of FAO and you're set.

My Cutter is fitted with almost no regard for weight and runs all fixed beams, rails and cannons (used PAs instead of cannons for a while, but went back to the cannons for power/heat efficiency and module sniping). It's plenty effective and a hundred times more fun than using the set of gimballed multis I have in storage.

I would definitely recommend unlocking Palin and rolling up some G5 DDs though.

Even the nacelets? I mean you cant hit with everything due to the size of the ship. To me, its either top hardpoints, or bottom hardpoints. Cant hit with everything at once.

 

[Gunnet]

Even the nacelets? I mean you cant hit with everything due to the size of the ship. To me, its either top hardpoints, or bottom hardpoints. Cant hit with everything at once.

I'm still experimenting with the nacelle hardpoints. I had a fixed regen beam on one and a turreted multi with corrosive on the other, but since regen beams are getting nerfed and I don't enjoy babysitting the turret (as nice as the corrosive bonus is) I decided to find something new.

At the moment I'm trying a pair of seekers for knocking out the drives on Eagles and such. So far they seem very effective in that role. If I'm still happy with them in a couple of weeks I'll probably sign up for LYR and get some packhounds.

I definitely agree about the top and bottom hardpoints. I have my hitscan weapons on the C4 and C2 hardpoints underneath the ship so they can converge, and then the C3 cannons on top. The vertical hardpoint separation actually works in my favour, since when I have the hitscan aimed directly at a ship flying "up" the cannon aimpoints are already closer to the lead pip.

 

[duckofdeath]

Using a grade 5 engineered D rated FSD will also save you an insane amount of weight, if you're looking for places to gain a bit of manoeuvrability. It's a 60-70 ton difference at the cost of around 11 LY range, if you have fully engineered FSD's. Add the reduced fuel usage with a smaller FSD to the calculations and you get access to a smaller tank size, saving you an additional 5-10 tons. \o/
I am a big fan of the PA's myself. Not because they're easy, because they're hard. I think, they're only really useful if you can get a good amount of power plant hits, which I guess is a problem for the Cutter. No matter how light you make it, it is still a massive and slow turning ship, giving you very limited opportunities to line up those PP hits. I don't use the Cutter for combat myself. I prefer faster turning ships, like the Corvette or FDL.

 

[Iori]

The vertical hardpoint separation actually works in my favour, since when I have the hitscan aimed directly at a ship flying "up" the cannon aimpoints are already closer to the lead pip.

Interesting concept, I should give it a try.

 

[Hatchepsut]

Is it worth getting the Plasma Accelerator itself Engineered for Lightweight Mount ? 10T lighter but 10% more firepower ? The other mods seem to make it hotter or more wasteful.

 

[GJ51]

Due to the Cutter's 1100 ton base mass you have to keep in mind that outfitting changes in mass have far less impact than it would on smaller, lower mass ships.

I have G5 Dirty Drives on my Cutter and it can boost to 496M/S, but it still doesn't turn very fast. It was designed to be "boom and zoom" and that's about what it is. For that reason, I put turrets on the pylons and gimballs up front. This one's a multi-purpose build and uses mil grade armour as well.

On my trading Cutter that holds 760 tons, I don't even bother with weapons. Submit and run - bye, bye. Slowing down to do some combat just slows down how fast I'm earning credits.

 

[Gunnet]

Is it worth getting the Plasma Accelerator itself Engineered for Lightweight Mount ? 10T lighter but 10% more firepower ? The other mods seem to make it hotter or more wasteful.

Like GJ51 says, saving weight isn't especially important on a Cutter. Efficient is a better alternative if you want a mod with no downsides and a modest damage boost. Particularly with the Cutter's relatively small PD.

My personal preference for PAs (and cannons) on the Cutter is mods with a projectile speed increase. Faster projectiles help compensate for the ship's limited control over engagement range and reduce the degree of attitude change needed to keep up with the target changing speed or direction.

 

[Ca$hback]

It's not a Cargo Ship though .... with the right changes would I be able to place an FAS in my front cross-hairs often enough for it to be worth it ?

The ship with the highest cargo capacity isn't a cargo ship?

 

[GJ51]

The big issue with the Cutter being used for combat is TTK, how long is it going to take to line up those cross-hairs enough times to get the kill.

It's not that you can't be reasonably competent against another ship, it's why would you want to use it for combat?

There are so many more options that are much better and less challenging in that role. FDL, Corvette, a properly set up Anaconda, I would think even a Vulture will all be better options if you want to go hunting. The other consideration is why you would risk such a high re-buy in a ship that's not really great at combat when much better options are available.

I occasionally use my multi-role Cutter and if interdicted or stop at a USS and do a bit of combat, that's pretty much just for some diversion. Even then it can get boring against ships that can fly circles around the ship. Sure, I eventually get lined up and get a kill, but it just takes to long for a steady diet of that sort of thing.

Like the mechanic said, "Use the right tool for the job."

For other than occasional combat for diversion, the Cutter ain't the right tool.

HTH

 

[clivewil]

i wouldn't use one for PvP, but for PvE it did manage to surprise me once - i had a Cutter fitted with mine launchers, you know, the standard loadout for traders at the time, and a C4 gimballed beam on the nose just for a laugh

i got interdicted and attacked by an elite FDL who, unlike other ships, was able to keep pace with me and i couldn't get rid of him, so i had to fight him. i learned two things just then:

1.) FD had nerfed mines by giving NPCs the tactic of flying skewed/offset to the player. mines were now useless. again.

2.) it is possible for a Cutter to dogfight a nimble ship and win, with just a single beam in the nose.

 

[NecasekO]

I tried plasma accelerators and fixed cannons on the Cutter but found it too difficult to hit faster ships. Also with it's modest power distributor it's important not to waste WEP capacitor with missed shots.

I'm currently using 3 fixed focused lasers in the bottom hardpoints (1x huge, 2x medium). That seems to work well against the Anacondas and FDLs that interdict me and for any RES or CZ fighting. I also have 2 medium pulse turrets and 2 large gimballed MCs in the top hardpoints, and a NPC fighter (although that's pretty useless in CZ).